''Folly''
Dead Within The Year
''Dead Within The Year''
K. Scott Smith-November 2009
Part one:The Sane Earth-
0).Writing is dangerous, Someone has to do it.
Waging wars, Drinking. Smoking.
Turning every leaf, Touching every stone,
Untill theres little left but skin and bone.
1).A world made of Strange chemical reactions,..
and gravity...
Another year has passed,
The end is all that ever lasts.
I recall lying on the Earth,
Intoxicated by youth,
New energies surging, Dying,
The moon is high and so am I...
2).In the darkest hours, I refuse to change.
I wait around like flowers on your grave.
I will sleep in,
The entire weekend.
3).The circle completes itself at every point.
That is its secret,The source of its power.
4).Survival,
Pillars weakend by the long days under the Sun.
No stranger to uncertainty, Lacking a sense of urgency,
Three sleepless days and nights. Waisted energies and calls
No way to call myself back. Away, Far, Gone, Whats done is done.
5).Cleans the room
Clears the table
A simple wooden desk to write,
a sanctuary,
a hell, or worse.
Sometimes time cannot even tell.
I am not well.
6).Laws, Ancient or new.
The ambition of men to form lines, And to follow them,
No matter how stupid or pointless.
I feel like an island,
Made of arms, Legs,
And breath.
7).Awake at times,
Some days are a dream we weave.
Worlds are just names we have created,
Ruins.
High and Dry...
We find new ways to pass the time...
8).Books, Writers,
Wanton Women, Wine.
Distractions of every kind.
9).Bells toll,
I lost count,
So much lost in the telling.
The noise reaches higher and higher,
I am overcome with joy and despair.
The comfort of renewal,
The sadness that is a wave.
No song. No certainty.
9).Corrupted by desire,
Intoxicated,
He looked for madness
And found it.
Desperate hours,
June despairs another night,
Of longing,
in the void.
No shelter.
10).Maker,
Of bridges,
Of mistakes,
Of missed opertunities.
Silent and ever still.
The evening fell on the world of men
The age of man is an age of theater
Loved an actress and would not stop.
11).Harlots,
Wished for then discarded,
Like the anticipation of winter,
Brushed off,
Almost,
Barley forgotten.
On to Susa,
Into the Eastmost frontier,
The rich lands Of Asia.
12).Tired of the radio,
Of roads,
And things that cease to grow.
Hooks, catchy lines,
Nonesense that rymes.
13).Voices
Annoying and unwelcome.
Choices We've yet to make.
Another year, Another town,
Drink more- Say less
Embittered, Emboldened.
Turned to stone.
14).Geometric
This line -Atop another
The heart.
Blood.
Life force swelling, spills out.
Waisted? Wanted?
Wished for Then wished away...
15).I followed the night, And all its cruel dances,
On rooftops, Through allyways,
On sidewalks, In abandoned houses and buildings.
As dawn broke,
I realized that I did my best work with a razor at my wrist.
16).Wished for
Wishes withdrawn.
The very center of one's self.
Singing
And laughing,
And dying.
All at once.
17).Alexander.
Winter anticipation.
Furthermost Alexandria.
Builder and destoyer of cities.
18).New phones,
T.v
Big screens
Old tricks
I am bored again...
19).Noone is innocent
Nothing is really sacred
Just bones smashed into the Earth,
The Sane Earth,
That is our lives,
Our lot,
Our "Fifteen minutes".
Breathe your last breath
Take your last step.
That final walk home
You will make it alone.
20).Walk clumsily into the madness,
Starting fires, Burning bridges,
Leaving strange words and prose
In his wake.
A strange encounter with William Blake
Meeting monsters where they dwell.
21).I have taken this about as far as I can.
Late night,
Early morning rides.
It isnt the drugs-Its the poor company
The idle, pointlessness of talk,
Small talk, always.
22).Returning books,
Late fees,
Then wandering about the cruel countryside,
Alone with my thoughts.
Unarmed,
Unmoved,
Umamused.
Life blooms, Death looms, Drums in the distance,
Water, The gale-merciless in its course.
23).The golden boy
Lost his way,
Lost his voice.
He may be in Nashville
Or Memphis.
Drunk on a street,
Watching the rain fall,
And the lights flicker.
Looking,
Yearning.
Longing
24).Long days and Long ago
I slept sound on my pillow.
I found, back then , the evening was kind...
Sleeping...
sound sleeping.
25)I want to keep my promises,
I want to be true,
I want to remain a mystery, I want to be understood,
I want total freedom, I want total togetherness,
I want to visit the sea often
I want to be ok.
26).City of words,
Pass slumber
Forgetting names, Locations, Plans.
Longtitute and Latitude shrugged.
Bones, Sore,
Breaking rocks and old fences.
Breathing,
On again
Off again.
27).The storm arrives right on time.
The mid summer heat is cruel.
The sidwalks are splintered and cracked.
The junkies are all spilling into the street,
Like saints in a parade,
Stumbling across an open plain.
28).Following orders-
Defeated.
What of freedom?
Lost or given, Given freely.
What of waiting?
Transport, Here. There.
What if the poets right to dream?
Wild dreams that noone but the poet dares to weave.
29).Dust.
On unpolished shoes.
Thats the extent
Of me
And you...
30).The begining will come,One million times over.
I found you sleeping off the centuries,
Keeping long secrets,
Anointing myself with tears,The sacred oil of forgotten splendor,
I wave away any notion of finding myself
Across a room or across the world...
End Part One.
K. Scott Smith-November 2009
Part one:The Sane Earth-
0).Writing is dangerous, Someone has to do it.
Waging wars, Drinking. Smoking.
Turning every leaf, Touching every stone,
Untill theres little left but skin and bone.
1).A world made of Strange chemical reactions,..
and gravity...
Another year has passed,
The end is all that ever lasts.
I recall lying on the Earth,
Intoxicated by youth,
New energies surging, Dying,
The moon is high and so am I...
2).In the darkest hours, I refuse to change.
I wait around like flowers on your grave.
I will sleep in,
The entire weekend.
3).The circle completes itself at every point.
That is its secret,The source of its power.
4).Survival,
Pillars weakend by the long days under the Sun.
No stranger to uncertainty, Lacking a sense of urgency,
Three sleepless days and nights. Waisted energies and calls
No way to call myself back. Away, Far, Gone, Whats done is done.
5).Cleans the room
Clears the table
A simple wooden desk to write,
a sanctuary,
a hell, or worse.
Sometimes time cannot even tell.
I am not well.
6).Laws, Ancient or new.
The ambition of men to form lines, And to follow them,
No matter how stupid or pointless.
I feel like an island,
Made of arms, Legs,
And breath.
7).Awake at times,
Some days are a dream we weave.
Worlds are just names we have created,
Ruins.
High and Dry...
We find new ways to pass the time...
8).Books, Writers,
Wanton Women, Wine.
Distractions of every kind.
9).Bells toll,
I lost count,
So much lost in the telling.
The noise reaches higher and higher,
I am overcome with joy and despair.
The comfort of renewal,
The sadness that is a wave.
No song. No certainty.
9).Corrupted by desire,
Intoxicated,
He looked for madness
And found it.
Desperate hours,
June despairs another night,
Of longing,
in the void.
No shelter.
10).Maker,
Of bridges,
Of mistakes,
Of missed opertunities.
Silent and ever still.
The evening fell on the world of men
The age of man is an age of theater
Loved an actress and would not stop.
11).Harlots,
Wished for then discarded,
Like the anticipation of winter,
Brushed off,
Almost,
Barley forgotten.
On to Susa,
Into the Eastmost frontier,
The rich lands Of Asia.
12).Tired of the radio,
Of roads,
And things that cease to grow.
Hooks, catchy lines,
Nonesense that rymes.
13).Voices
Annoying and unwelcome.
Choices We've yet to make.
Another year, Another town,
Drink more- Say less
Embittered, Emboldened.
Turned to stone.
14).Geometric
This line -Atop another
The heart.
Blood.
Life force swelling, spills out.
Waisted? Wanted?
Wished for Then wished away...
15).I followed the night, And all its cruel dances,
On rooftops, Through allyways,
On sidewalks, In abandoned houses and buildings.
As dawn broke,
I realized that I did my best work with a razor at my wrist.
16).Wished for
Wishes withdrawn.
The very center of one's self.
Singing
And laughing,
And dying.
All at once.
17).Alexander.
Winter anticipation.
Furthermost Alexandria.
Builder and destoyer of cities.
18).New phones,
T.v
Big screens
Old tricks
I am bored again...
19).Noone is innocent
Nothing is really sacred
Just bones smashed into the Earth,
The Sane Earth,
That is our lives,
Our lot,
Our "Fifteen minutes".
Breathe your last breath
Take your last step.
That final walk home
You will make it alone.
20).Walk clumsily into the madness,
Starting fires, Burning bridges,
Leaving strange words and prose
In his wake.
A strange encounter with William Blake
Meeting monsters where they dwell.
21).I have taken this about as far as I can.
Late night,
Early morning rides.
It isnt the drugs-Its the poor company
The idle, pointlessness of talk,
Small talk, always.
22).Returning books,
Late fees,
Then wandering about the cruel countryside,
Alone with my thoughts.
Unarmed,
Unmoved,
Umamused.
Life blooms, Death looms, Drums in the distance,
Water, The gale-merciless in its course.
23).The golden boy
Lost his way,
Lost his voice.
He may be in Nashville
Or Memphis.
Drunk on a street,
Watching the rain fall,
And the lights flicker.
Looking,
Yearning.
Longing
24).Long days and Long ago
I slept sound on my pillow.
I found, back then , the evening was kind...
Sleeping...
sound sleeping.
25)I want to keep my promises,
I want to be true,
I want to remain a mystery, I want to be understood,
I want total freedom, I want total togetherness,
I want to visit the sea often
I want to be ok.
26).City of words,
Pass slumber
Forgetting names, Locations, Plans.
Longtitute and Latitude shrugged.
Bones, Sore,
Breaking rocks and old fences.
Breathing,
On again
Off again.
27).The storm arrives right on time.
The mid summer heat is cruel.
The sidwalks are splintered and cracked.
The junkies are all spilling into the street,
Like saints in a parade,
Stumbling across an open plain.
28).Following orders-
Defeated.
What of freedom?
Lost or given, Given freely.
What of waiting?
Transport, Here. There.
What if the poets right to dream?
Wild dreams that noone but the poet dares to weave.
29).Dust.
On unpolished shoes.
Thats the extent
Of me
And you...
30).The begining will come,One million times over.
I found you sleeping off the centuries,
Keeping long secrets,
Anointing myself with tears,The sacred oil of forgotten splendor,
I wave away any notion of finding myself
Across a room or across the world...
End Part One.
Comment On This Poem --- Vote for this poem
Dead Within The Year
Dead Within The Year
